Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

by Jamie on March 28, 2011

From decadent Peanut Butter Trifles to Amber’s Peanut Butter Snickeroos, I filled up the week with pure peanut butter goodness, so I knew I had to wrap up the week with something extra special. The idea for Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes has been filed away in my recipe notebook for months just waiting to debut in spectacular style.

I have forever been a fan of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, especially when fluffy white bread is involved. I know, I know, this is certainly not the most nutritious bread choice, but hey, this is My Baking Addiction, so I am giving the white bread some love to go along with this week’s peanut butter love.

I get on food kicks a lot, meaning I’ll eat the same thing over and over again until I simply can’t stand the thought of it, but somehow, I never tire of PB&J sandwiches!

There is something very whimsical and nostalgic about these cupcakes that take me back to being a kid and noshing on PB&J sandwiches and Fruit Roll-Ups. Keeping with my love of fluffy white bread, I decided to use my favorite white cake recipe as the base. I then hollowed out the center of each cupcake and filled them with strawberry and grape jellies. I then piped on a fluffy peanut butter frosting and finished them off with a dollop of jelly. Really, does it get any better than that?

Oh, one more thing…I am not oblivious to fact that these kind of look like boobs; just consider this your monthly breast self-examination reminder! Go ahead…scroll back up and check them out, although not intentional, we got a good laugh out of these!

For the Filling:

Directions:

For the Cake

Center a rack in the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners or spray with non-stick cooking spray.

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg whites.

3. Place the sugar and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer and beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the vanilla, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the buttermilk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated. Using a large scoop (about 3 tablespoons), distribute the batter between 24 muffin wells, filling each well 2/3 full.

4. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the centers come out clean. Cool on wire rack.

5. Once cupcakes have cooled, hollow out a small circle in the center of each cupcake; I use an apple corer because I am anal and obsessed with symmetry. Fill the center of each cupcake with a dollop of jelly or jam in your favorite flavor.

For the Peanut Butter Buttercream

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, cream butter and peanut butter on medium speed until fluffy. Turn your mixer down to low speed and slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar, and continue mixing until well blended.

2. Add vanilla and 4 tablespoons of heavy cream. Blend on low speed until moistened. Add an additional 1 to 4 tablespoons of heavy cream until you reach the desired consistency. Beat at high speed until frosting is smooth and fluffy

3. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes and finish with a dollop of jelly or jam.

Notes:

- Frosting was piped onto cupcakes using the large round tip from Bake It Pretty.
- Cupcakes are best served the day they are made, but will store in a sealed container within the refrigerator for two days.
- Cake recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan

My mom used to make pb&j muffins at her cafe…she would bake the jelly right into them! It was a nice gooey surprise when you bit into it! I will definitely have to try this recipe once our oven is fixed. (Broken oven means I cannot get my baking fix! Ugh!)

Hi ! I love your site! And this is my go to PB frosting recipe, but I had a question…. Mine is not as smooth as yours looks. Mine kind of cracks.. it does not pipe smoothly. It tastes wonderful but I’d like it to look better. I’m making it right, I’m wondering if maybe I am letting it mix to long. I let my mixer run for about 2 minutes to make it fluffy. If I added any more cream, the consistency would be to thin. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks!!!

I made these for my husband.
They have nicknames for each other at work and him and his buddy are peanut butter and jelly and I thought this was perfect, they all love them, as a matter of fact, I have a batch in the oven right now!!

I baked these earlier today and gave some to the women that work at our apartment complex, they loved them and could not stop raving about them.
I was very impressed by the cake, it tasted so good but not too peanutbuttery.
All in all this recipe is a keeper!

Hi!
These look great! I would love to try them except I’ve never true pbj sandwich before (oops terrible mistake I know), so I’m wondering besides using jam, what kind of jelly are you using? Is it the brand jell-o?
Thank you!

Yvonne-
I typically purchase jams and jellies from the local market or buy something like Smuckers – right off the grocery store shelf. I don’t believe the brand Jell-o makes jelly, just gelatin and puddings. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie

I just made these and everything was amazing except the cupcake itself. for some reason my cupcake tasted very similar to cornbread and it was very fragile and fell apart. however, the frosting was AMAZING!!!!!

Sam-
Sorry these didn’t work out for you. I use this recipe constantly when I am in need of a white cake base. It’s definitely a little more light and spongy than other recipes, but I adore the tight crumb. The cake recipe is from Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake – I’ve never had it result in a cornbread texture or fall apart. Did you use cake flour or all-purpose?
-Jamie

I used all purpose because it was all i had on hand. I also think i used too much buttermilk. However i just made them again for a friend home from college and they came out absolutely perfect! i used cake flour this time and made it all exactly to a T and the texture of the cupcakes are freaking awesome! thanks for the great recipe, i will be using this cupcake recipe from now on!

Oh my goodness, the boob comment was perfect! My husband wants pb&j cupcakes for his birthday and this was my favorite recipe I’ve found. So! When I read him the boob comment, he said “Those are the ones. I want pb&j cupcakes that look like boobs!!!!”. Thank you so much!

Hi! I noticed that this cake recipe is almost the same to the one you used for your Vanilla Bean Cupcake recipe. How much of a difference do you think the buttermilk makes over the whole milk used in the Vanilla Bean recipe? Could whole milk be used here instead and achieve the same effect? Thanks for your help with this!!

I haven’t had these in forever.. last year or so I was addicted to your site and when I found this recipe I made them like once a month…and now that I have stumbled across your site again I think my addiction to these is back!

Hi Jamie, just wanted to let you know that these cupcakes are now my go to vanilla cupcakes. I have tried a lot of recipes and none of them compare to these. I make them for every party and everybody always thinks they are so amazing! Big thank you for always sharing winning recipes

I just made the cupcake (will fill and frost tomorrow – didn’t realize I don’t have jelly – gaaahh!!). I didn’t have cake flour so I used all purpose and cornstarch (3/4 AP + 2 Tbs. AP + 2 Tbs. Cornstarch = 1 Cup Cake Flour). These are the most amazing tasting cupcakes! This will be my “go to” white cake recipe from now on. Thank you!

I love you I love you best cake ever… can I reduce the sugar? I used ordinary granulated sugar with the butter but it wasn’t fluffy. I baked it like that it was amazing, the fluffiest awesomest cake. I’m thinking I need to reduce the sugar because of the frosting… or reduce the sugar in the frosting which ever… what do you think?